Say it ain’t so: Heinz ketchup the latest casualty of liberal political doctrine

posted at 1:20 pm on May 15, 2010 by Howard Portnoy

By the time the H. J. Heinz Company is finished remaking its world-famous ketchup to comply with Michael Bloomberg’s National Salt Reduction Initiative, you may not recognize the product.

As reported last month, Heinz is one of 16 national food manufacturers and food service vendors that has knuckled under to pressure from the New York City mayor to reduce the salt content in their products by 25 percent.

Heinz Ketchup is more than a condiment. It’s an icon. Despite assurances from spokerspersons at the Pittsburgh-based company that the new recipe will be as popular as the original, some things are not meant to be tampered with. I suspect many Americans share my fear that when all is said and done, Heinz will have converted its much-beloved ketchup to just another catsup.

And to what end? To satisfy the misguided ravings of yet another well-intentioned political gasbag who has decreed that you lack the wherewithal to make decisions regarding your personal health and that government should therefore step in as your surrogate.

Bloomberg’s self-anointment as New York’s health guru is part of a national craze among mayors and governors. In many localities, the efforts are taking the form of taxes, on soft drinks, for example, to shore up ailing economies under the guise of looking out for the well-being of constituents.

Even if one accepts the premise that restricting sodium helps people live longer, shouldn’t it be up to the individual to decide if he wants to make that change to his diet? If Michael Bloomberg chooses to eat to live, it is not government’s role or responsibility to sit in judgment of his decision. The same holds true, however, of people who choose to live to eat.

As for Heinz Ketchup, company spokeswoman Jessica Jackson told the New York Post that the new recipe has been tested across “a broad cross-section of consumers.” She added that Heinz is not worried that the new ketchup recipe will suffer the same fate as New Coke, which was resoundingly rejected by consumers when it was unveiled in 1985. I suppose we’ll see soon enough whether that optimism is justified.

According to Heinz’s website, over 650 million bottles of Heinz Ketchup are sold around the world in more than 140 countries, with annual sales of more than $1.5 billion.

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Heinz could just have a “NewYork” style catsup that has less salt and let those of us that don’t live in New york choose. The scary part about less salt is that it was put in catsup in the first place to cut down on bacteria and make it safer to transport. This reminds me of “green” cleaners that save mother earth but don’t actually kill germs. Scarier still is how Heinz is going to make their catsup taste the same with less salt. When tobacco companies had to live with less tobacco in their cigarettes, they put chemicals like ammonia in there to make it seem like there was the same amount of nicotine. Something tells me that whatever they put in their catsup will be more harmful than salt. DON’T BUY HEINZ CATSUP!

I discovered some terrific ketchups down in Jamaica a few years ago-they have banana ketchup and mango ketchup, and even spicy Jamaican Jerk Ketchup.

And from here in the States, the Pride of Toledo is Tony Packo’s Sweet Hot ketchup. Best sampled on his famous Hungarian hot dogs. Tony will ship the dogs to you but he ain’t cheap…30 hot dogs are $160 to $180 (includes shipping) depending on your location.

1) If you do your research, you’ll find that for healthy people (who don’t have a specific salt-related condition), the paranoia about salt is bullpuckey. There’s no statistically valid difference in the health of low-salt maniacs and, say, the Japanese, who eat four times as much salt as we do. The same is true all over the world, population’s salt intake doesn’t particularly relate to their health unless it’s zero or so high as to be nigh impossible.

2) If you DO believe the salt-paranoiacs, a 25% decrease isn’t going to save you.

PS I’m on low sodium because of a specific health event, but it makes sense because of that condition. Hopefully it will be temporary, but either way that doesn’t mean I want to impose my crappy-tasting food on everyone else.

I predict we’ll be seeing bottles of Heinz Ketchup “Classic” arrayed prominently above dusty, unsold bottles of their new diet ketchup within a very short period of time.

How telling is it that they won’t be announcing this formulation change on the label? The only way to tell, other than taste, is by examining the label on the back. It’s almost like….they really don’t want people to know.

I’m glad that Heinz is reducing the salt. Salt sucks! It gives you hardening of the arteries and makes you die sooner. No one is being prevented from using all the salt he wants on his burger. If you want more, pour it on. The reduced salt allow those who want less salt to still enjoy ketchup on their burgers. Another change that I am looking forward to is when Heinz replaces the high-fructose corn syrup, which is another killer, with natural sugar.

And to what end? To satisfy the misguided ravings of yet another well-intentioned political gasbag who has decreed that you lack the wherewithal to make decisions regarding your personal health and that government should therefore step in as your surrogate.

Much ado about nothing–no one will actually notice much like when they switched to high-fructose corn syrup instead of sugar. The recipe likely changes all the time, this “first time in 40 years” notion is complete BS.

It has a lot of sodium (8% daily value per tablespoon serving) and if they can make it tasty with less sodium what’s the big deal? They have been working on this for two years so it’s not a conspiracy with the White House or even Bloomberg.

More BS from Bloomingberg`s insanity lane! Too much salt is bad. Risky. No salt will put you down into the ground for certain. Salt of the earth? No thanks!Anyway I want to get there at my own speed for better or for worse. We are all going there anyway, but I guess the liberals have reached the conclusion that we are immortal. Do you want to live forever??

I am massively sick and tired of government busybodies “fixing” things that weren’t broken in the first place all for the good of the masses (who are naturally too stupid to know what is good for them.)

Whether it is Heinz Ketchup or anything else, I want my diet (and my country) back from these loons. I want them to leave my life alone. And I hope, after this recent, overwhelming dose of “Hope and Change,” that people will think three or four times before they’re willing to allow such meddlers into positions of power again. I have enough trouble with my neighborhood’s version of Mrs. Grundy. Having one in as the country’s president is disastrous.

There is nothing Bloomberg does over and above his mayoral duties that is well intentioned. If I knew a bit more about his record as a mayor, I’d probably find a few short comings there as well. That’s an educated guess based upon his ignoble “Mayous Against Guns” excrement.